U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton holds a bilateral meeting with Dr. Mahmoud Abbas, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the PLO and President of the Palestinian National Authority, at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on June 11, 2010. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]
Well, P,J. Crowley's remarks at today's press briefing explain why there were no public statements.
MR. CROWLEY: Good afternoon and welcome to the Department of State. Several things to talk about before taking your questions. The Secretary was delighted to welcome President Mahmoud Abbas to the State Department earlier this morning. She was very grateful that he delayed his departure for Madrid to allow and to meet with her. And unfortunately, because of time pressures both on her schedule with a follow-on meeting at the White House with the President, and his time pressure in terms of being able – needing to depart to get to Madrid, we were not allow – able to present media availability on that.
They talked about a number of things – proximity talks and the progress thus far. George Mitchell will be back in the region next week to follow up on the meetings that President Abbas had this week with the President and the Secretary. The specific times and days are still being worked out. They talked about the situation in Gaza. The president shared some ideas on how to expand access for people and goods through the land border with Israel while preserving Israel’s security interests, and we pledged to continue ongoing discussions with Israelis and others on how to best achieve that.
Regarding security, the Secretary commended President Abbas for ongoing efforts to strengthen governance, reflected in the fact that there was growing confidence not just within the international community, but also among the Palestinian people for the institutions of government that President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad are building. And they talked about the economy and they reflected on the successful investment conference last week and many positive economic indicators. The discussions centered on issues that all leaders in all countries are focused on: jobs, exports, tourism, affordable housing, and how to expand private sector business opportunities.
Subsequent to the Secretary’s meeting with the President, her weekly meeting, she had a one-on-one lunch with King Abdullah. He is here in town on a private visit, but they discussed a range of issues within the region.
